Awkward Silences
by Lt. Basil
Summary: "He froze. Xion froze. Roxas glowered. Lea glanced between the three of them nervously… The newcomer was the first to speak. '…Xion'" Riku and Xion reunite for the first time after Xion is rescued from Sora's heart. AU. Can be friendship or shipping, whichever you prefer. Rated for swearing in the author's note.


**A/N: Sooo… this was originally supposed to be a part of another KH drabble series that I recently started working on… but then it got way too long, so… yeah. It's here instead of there. Yep. Anyway, I hope you like it**

 **Disclaimer: As always, I do not own Kingdom Hearts. Disney, Square Enix and Tetsuya Nomura do. I'm just a hopeful fangirl with way too much time on her hands.**

 _Setting: Mysterious Tower: Sorcerer's Loft, two weeks after Roxas and Xion are recovered from Sora_

 _Characters: Xion, Riku, Lea, Roxas, Yen Sid_

 _Genre: Friendship_

 _Rating: G_

 _Pairings: RikuShi (sort of…)_

 _..._

It was two weeks after her restoration when she saw him again.

Xion, Roxas and Lea had been up in the loft with Yen Sid, discussing strategies for hunting down and dealing with the remaining Organization XIII members, when the door opened behind them.

"Master Yen Sid, I was wondering if you - "

He froze.

Xion froze.

Roxas glowered.

Lea glanced between the three of them nervously.

The newcomer was the first to speak. "Xion…?"

Xion swallowed. "Riku."

"…"

An awkward silence stretched between them.

Lea cleared his throat. "Hey, uh, Roxas… I just remembered that there was something I promised to show you."

Roxas frowned. "…Huh? I don't remember any -"

Lea elbowed him in the ribs.

"Ow! Hey!"

Lea rolled his eyes. "Come on!"

And with that, the redhead grabbed the arm of a confused and protesting Roxas and all but dragged him out the door.

Yen Sid, who had been watching the exchange silently up to this point, abruptly stood up. "I take my leave," he announced, and disappeared into the adjacent chamber.

Riku and Xion were now alone in the loft.

They stared at each other awkwardly. Neither one was sure what to say.

"Uh… hi," Xion said hesitantly. Riku started.

"Hi…" He trailed off.

"…"

"So, uh…" Riku tried again. "You… changed your hair."

Xion smirked, running her fingers through her now-chin-length black locks. "So did you," she pointed out, gesturing at the short, spiky strands of silver sticking out from behind his ears.

Riku ducked his head and scratched the back of his neck nervously. "Well, you know… it was kind of in the way." (He winced at how lame that sounded coming out of his mouth.)

Xion chuckled. "I can imagine."

"…"

The long silences were starting to get very annoying. Uncomfortable, Riku wracked his brains for what to say next.

"So… are you…?" He gestured at her helplessly, at a loss for words.

She smiled. "I'm okay. A little shaken up, but… you know. Alive. So that's good." (She cringed.)

"Yeah…" He looked at his toes. She looked at the door.

"…"

"Sorry, I need to…"

Riku blinked. "Oh. Right." He stepped aside, allowing her to move past him towards the exit.

Just as she was about to slip out onto the stairway, his voice made her pause.

"Xion."

She turned. "…Yes?"

He smiled tightly.

"It's good to have you back," he said quietly.

Xion blinked, then returned the smile. "…Thanks."

And then she was gone.

 **AUTHOR'S NOTE 12/2/18: In light of an obnoxious and hardly even relevant anonymous review that was recently left on this work (which I have since deleted) I want to make something perfectly clear: CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM ONLY. If you've got something to say about grammar errors, canon errors (and I mean real canon errors, not what you think SHOULD be canon) or OOC characters, or even just saying you think there should be more romance in it, that is fine. I'm always looking for ways to improve my writing. But I don't want to hear any whining about how "people need to stop writing fics like this," because frankly I DON'T GIVE A SHIT. I don't care if you think Xion and Roxas need to stay dead. I DON'T THINK THAT, and what's more, that criticism doesn't even have anything to do with the quality of the story, it's just an self-righteous and purely opinionated nitpick that isn't going to help improve the fic and is merely demanding that I submit myself to your opinion, which I AM NEVER GOING TO DO BECAUSE I DON'T AGREE WITH THAT POINT OF VIEW AND I'M NOT YOUR SERVANT. If you don't like the premise of the fic, then STOP READING AND MOVE ON, because I don't want to hear it. And I reserve the right to continue to delete any other comments that I don't think serve any actual purpose other than because you're being a smartass and want the whole world to worship your opinions.**

 **If you're someone who was reading this and you were actually being respectful and just reading for the sake of reading, I apologize. I hope my rant didn't detract too much from your experience, but I just needed to make that clear.**


End file.
